How Clean is Your House?

Although I moaned like hell about the science revision weekend, Phil actually did learn a lot. In fact, he actually said to me in the car on the way back home, that if he hadn’t of booked up, he probably would have failed the exam. His exam is on the 15th October, not very far away, so despite my boredom I’m glad we went. Poor Phil, he has so much work to do in the CF that he just doesn’t have time to study.

We spent all of Monday on the CF going to and fro to Milton Keynes to pick up bits from home and visit the DIY stores. It would be probably be quicker and easier to shop in Bedford but we just don’t know it well enough so we had no choice but to trek back to CMK. Progress was slow but we did at least manage to sort the part for the drawer unit for the kitchen and put that together. We grabbed lunch at the Rose & Crown in Cranfield, the pub didn’t look promising from the outside and the dining room was grubby but the food was home cooked and quite passable and if we are stuck, we will go back there again.

Yesterday was a BIG day. I stayed home to cook of big pot of chilli and rice whilst Phil went early to the CF to get going with the tiling in the kitchen. We had a viewing on the NH so I did the housework and then went over to Cranfield to see if I could help out Phil. He’d pretty much finished all the tiling so I did some tidying up, took up the lounge carpet up and filled my boot with rubbish to take to the tip. We went home for lunch and a shower and then went round to the cul-d-sac to meet our tenant and the agent to do the final inspection on our house. Although we were excited to get our house back, we were both a little anxious about the inspection. Phil knows how anal I am about cleaning and knew beforehand that it wouldn’t be to my standards. And he was right; I wasn’t a happy bunny although the tenant produced a bill to say that he had a professional clean the day before. The tenant also had lost the key to all of our outbuildings and my brand new dyson hover was so clogged that I couldn’t get the top open to empty and clean it. I got rid of the tenant and the agent and sent Phil home and started to clean. The agent knew that I was not happy and said I could have she would arrange a professional clean the following day but I refused, I need to go over area of my house so I know that it is done and I can move back.

I do wish I wasn’t so particular about cleanliness but I just can’t help it especially because everything in our house is so new. It took me 2 hours to scrub my lovely once ceramic cream tiles in the kitchen which were grey, literally no exaggeration. It was obvious to me that for the last year they have been mopped but never scrubbed on hands and knees. I smelt all the bedding which had been washed but I stripped it all off and took back the NH to wash (and iron) again. I didn’t dare look inside my lovely Italian loffra oven, that will just have to wait until the weekend. I suppose all in all, the house wasn’t in bad nick but even so I had a little cry. The garden has not been loved and there are leaves all over the garage floor even though we have an electronic door that goes right down to the floor. Never mind, I am up early so I can go in and start cleaning; just got to publish the blog and wait for another load of washing to finish so I can start the drying programme.

Ps. Photo’s to follow later and maybe the last blog until Friday because I think our internet connection goes off tomorrow.

Fed up in Farnfield

It was a manic morning on Friday and we only just about managed to leave for Farnfield on time.  Phil got the lions share of the tiling in the bathroom done at Cranfield and we both left for home at midday just leaving time to shower, throw the case in the car and get over to Stony Stratfield to meet the agent.  We viewed a 1 bed flat which was in dire need of repair.  Phil was quite keen to put in an offer but I am not so sure about the area.  How Phil thinks we can exchange and complete and finish a total refurbishment in the space of 7 weeks is beyond me.  I am certainly not afraid of hard work but superwoman I aint!

I pen this blog (so to speak) from the free Wi-Fi station in the reception area of the Yarnfield Park Training Conference centre. It has been the worst weekend for me and I HAVE BEEN BORED OUT OF MY HEAD. I know Phil’s intention of wanting me along was honourable because he hates to spend a night apart from me which is sweet, but in this situation, slightly selfish of him. By the time we leave this place, I would have spent nearly 40 hours in my room, which okay is functional but at the end of the day it is small and not that comfortable. It has been the worst weekend and with a flat in the midst of renovation and a house move on Tuesday-cum-Wednesday or maybe as late as Thursday, I certainly could have made better use of my time. The conference centre itself is okay, it works well as a venue for its purpose but luxury it aint and the delegates are seriously weird. I guess I am used to Business MBA graduates but these lot here for the science weekend, freak me out. Okay I’m not an academic (thank god) and boy do I feel like an outsider. I seriously don’t belong here!

This is a quick moany blog published from the Wi-Fi station in reception because I got kicked out of my room at 9am this morning. I told Phil in no uncertain terms last night, that if he doesn’t get out of his ‘how to get through your exam’ session scheduled at 1.30pm until 3pm today that I would be getting the train back to central Milton Keyes first thing this morning. Having to spend 3 and a half hours in reception waiting for him to come out is bad enough but add on another hour and a half on to that timing would have sent me over the top. I would like to think that he felt guilty for making me prisoner in an inferior conference hotel room for 2 and a half days would have helped with his decision but the bottom line really, is that we are going home early, because he has forgotten to record the Grand Prix.

You may wonder how I have occupied myself whilst being held prisoner? Well, yesterday, I ran a bath, exfoliated, slapped on a face pack and waxed every stray hair with Veet from my body plus tweezing those hairs which were stubborn. I have been busy with the CF so the body and soul have been neglected of late. To be frank I can’t be arsed these days and Phil doesn’t seem to notice anyway. But still, as well as the hair removal, I gave myself a mini pedicure and manicure and read the autobiography of Julie Walters entitled “That’s Another Story” from start to finish. And that was all before 12.30pm when I met Phil for lunch in the restaurant. Unfortunately the other delegates on his course joined us at our table which annoyed me.

In the afternoon I climbed in Phil’s Landover and ventured into the nearby town of Stone. It was only a 10 minute drive but with my bad back and fear of driving the tank, especially in new territory, I was a nervous wreck by the time I found somewhere to park. Stone is okay, mainly charity shops, unfortunately not any good fashion boutiques but I did stumble across a Morrison’s where I picked up some chilled wine. When I got back to the hotel-com-conference-room I put on ITV and watched Bean in Los Angeles. Very funny and made even more so when I opened a bottle of vino at half past four. Well, what else is a girl to do when she is away from home and lonely and VERY bored??? Phil popped back at 5.30; he had a glass of wine and we ran to catch a curry at last orders in the restaurant then he went up for his last session while I went back to my prison cell, put on comfy jarmies and watched Strictly for half a hour before switching to X-Factor. How exciting is my life????

This morning I had to pack up quickly, load the car and go for breakfast. I thought I'd try out the gym to wile away an hour. It was very basic but I managed a gentle 30 minute run on the treadmill which is better than nothing I suppose. And now here I am, blogging using the free Wi-Fi at reception. I have a couple more hours to wait for Phil before we can head home. I can’t wait, it’s been, boring, miserable, cramped and the longest weekend ever.

Getting there slowly

Progress has been both slow and very frustrating over the last couple of days. On Wednesday morning we started building up the Houston off the shelf wall cabinets. First up, was the corner wall unit to the right hand side of the window. We’d already had issues with Wickes because unlike other corner units we have come across, it came in 2 parts. Most bizarre, but to cut a long story short, it took us 3 hours to get the damn thing up on the wall. By this time it was time for lunch and as we had to meet the bald man with the big van at 2.30 we decided to lock up and go to back to MK.

Lunch was Big Mac and fries at McDonalds in the city centre. Not the healthiest lunch but Phil pulled some money off vouchers from the paper so we thought why not, it made a change. After the junk food was consumed, we went to B&Q to get the bathroom. We decided we’d go for the Madrid suite at the discounted price of £249. Phil went to get a trolley but when we went to get the suite itself, one of the staff said the Madrid had been discontinued. This meant that we had to choose another and it came out much more expensive. We had to get one quickly because we could see that the bald man with big man was already outside the store waiting for us. Phil and Nigel loaded the bathroom suite onto the van and Nigel followed us to the NH to pick up the mini micro IKEA kitchen unit. I helped load up but Nigel was strong so I decided not to accompany Phil to the CF to unload.

Even though we had measured up I was worried that the IKEA unit wouldn’t fit through the front door but Phil phoned to say that they’d got everything in with no problems. He also said that Snake the plumber was coming round at 4 and he would do some jobs whilst he waited. Snake turned up with Dave, another plumber, to show him what needed to be done. Both plumbers weren’t sure about whether the IKEA micro kitchen unit would fit but agreed to give it a go the following day. This was good news but because of the corner wall unit disaster it meant that we’d had not had time to tile the bathroom so this will have to be done after the suite is fitted which is not great.

Phil had to get up and go over to the CF early yesterday morning as there was were some grouting that had to be done before Dave got there. I went to Wickes early to pick up a 500 wide base end panel and after a quick trip to Sainsbury’s in the hub I went to wait for Owen, the plumber who unblocked HH’s toilet last Saturday. Coke the dog was pleased to see me and we had a play and then I got stuck into Harriet’s washing up while I was waiting. Owen was late so eventually I phoned his mobile to check on his ETA. He said that the part wasn’t in but he would chase it up and come over in a couple of hours. I asked him to phone me half an hour beforehand because I would be elsewhere. In the meantime I said goodbye to the dog and drove over to the CF, stopping off at BathroomBits4Us to pick up a soft closing toilet seat and 2 bathroom cabinets.

Dave had got on well with the bathroom and by the time I got back, he’d already had the bath in. It wasn’t easy to get it in though; he’d had to chisel out a lot of the wall. Phil had also been productive; he’d got up the blinds in the lounge and the bedroom and mounted the new electric convector heaters on the walls. I got the bathroom door outside and gave it a coat of gloss but really there wasn’t much I could get on with inside the flat, other than to make the boys coffee and tidy up the rubbish. With all of Dave’s tools spread on the lounge floor and Phil’s tool box, the place was in a right old mess.

At half past 12 I got a call from Harriet to say that Owen was at the flat; luckily Shane had come home from work early for an interview so he was there to let him in to fix the new syphon. I dashed back to MK so I could pay Owen and check that the loo was fixed. Owen told me that really we need to replace the whole flush system; I told him I’d think about it, I’m just pleased that the problem is fixed for now. When I’d got back to CF flat, Phil had been back to the NH to go to the loo; he’d also fitted the new plinth and eaten his lunch, sweet and sour chicken for one from the Chinese in the high street. Dave had fitted the toilet and sink and was just about ready to start on the IKEA unit. I loaded the car with up with all rubbish and decided to head home for a shower, leaving Phil to do jobs and wait for Dave to finish off. He eventually got home just after 5 and I am both pleased and relieved to report that Dave managed to get the unit fitted; there were a few issues but he managed to do it. Phil says it looks good and we seemed to have pulled it off.

Phil is already at the CF but I’ve stayed behind this morning to post the blog and catch up with a few domestics. We have a busy day ahead. In a minute I need to go to B&Q to pick up a bag of waterproof wall tile mix and take this to the CF. Hopefully Phil would have got a good way into the tiling and I will be able to have a good clean up. I am hoping that we can get back home for a shower by 11.30. We need to find something to eat for lunch before viewing a flat in Stony Stratford at 1 o’clock and then come back and pack a case and head to Stone in Staffordshire for The Science Revision Weekend. Phil thought he needed to book this to help him with his exam in October. He said he wouldn’t go unless I went with him so reluctantly I’ve agreed. His programme runs from 9am until 9.30 in the evening so god only knows what I’m going to find to do with myself for the whole weekend. I see from the website the venue has a free Wi-Fi facility so if I’m bored I may just log into the blog. Right now though, I must sign off and get going.

L I F E

I am not having a good life at the moment in time and I’m not certainly not enjoying myself - that’s for sure. I wake up tired; I go to bed absolutely knackered. My back is still really stiff and I’ve got this fast beat heart palpitation thing going on which really is quite scary. I feel like shit and I look like shit. Never mind, it can only get worse.

The week didn’t start well either. I woke up early on Monday feeling tired but I published the blog without too much effort, ate my yogurt and banana and boiled egg and soldiers that Phil cooked me so it wasn’t an unpleasant start to the day. But then, Phil’s mum phoned in a tizzy waz as she’d tried to phone on the Sunday and got no reply. She thought we’d gone away without telling her. This is not like Phil’s mum. My mum-in-law is the sweetest lady you could ever wish to meet; never demanding and always uncomplaining. But she is getting older and hadn’t been feeling well last week. She will be 80 next year so time is not on her side and we must make sure we phone every couple of days and stay more in touch. I dread telling her about our Aussie swap; it will break her little heart.

Whilst I was on the phone to Phil’s mum I had 4 missed calls on my mobile from Harriet. I knew something was up, so as soon as I put down the land line I called HH back. Turns out she had locked herself out (AGAIN) and wanted me to take my spare key and let her in. I was cross because I wasn’t fully awake, I hadn’t had time to clean my teeth or put in my falsie and I got completely stuck in the middle of the school drop off. Not good and made me late arriving at the CF.

Phil had left for the CF early on Monday because he had to be there for the ex BT engineer at 9.30 am who I’d organised to come and sort out all the telephone wires and sockets. David, the engineer, managed to get rid of the old cables but he charged us 70 quid for the hour which we thought was a rip off and we won’t be using him again. We had sandwiches from the Co-op for lunch because we weren’t sure what time the guys from Ampthill Glass were coming out to fit the new double glazed units in the lounge and bedroom.

The fitters arrived just after 1 o’clock and soon had the old windows out and the new frames in. We had a little bit of a panic because we had ordered windows boards (the bits that cover the window sills) and the fitters didn’t have any knowledge of this and didn’t have any on the van. Phil phoned the shop, as did one of the fitters who subsequently had to go back to pick some boards up. Luckily for us they had some in stock and were able to fit them. I loaded up my car with rubbish to take to the tip on the way home and noticed that Betty was throwing some kind of wobbly with the window fitter. She told me that he was being untidy but I checked and he wasn’t and to be honest, I couldn’t see what her problem was. I told her to take a chill pill and said the fitters would be finished shortly and she soon would be able to put out her washing and put back her plant pots.

I thought I had placated her but no sooner had I walked in the door back at home, my mobile (that I’d left behind) was ringing. It was Adrian, Betty’s husband saying that the window fitters were upsetting Betty and could I “sort them out”. I nearly lost my temper and explained that Phil was on site and I was at home and the fitters were just about to finish. Talk about drama queen, mad Betty is not just mad, she is absolutely crazy.

Yesterday was an industrious day; we were on site at the CF flat at eight thirty, an early start a) to avoid the school traffic and b) to get on with on our tight schedule. It was a good job we were there early because the delivery man turned up with the new electric convertor wall mounted heaters that Phil had ordered over the internet. There is no gas in Cranfield. Phil got stuck right into the tiling in the bathroom; with his heavy bulk, it was hard work and there was an awful lot of huffing, puffing and swearing, even more than normal. I kept out of the way, finishing off the glossing and clearing up here and there.

We downed tools at 12.30 and went to The Swan for lunch. Phil ordered a red curry and a green curry plus some plain noodles and a boiled rice to share. It took a while to arrive which wasn’t a problem because we prefer fresh but we when the food came, we were a little disappointed. Both curries were hot and spicy and well flavoured but lacked some of the more expensive ingredients that you would normally expect in a traditional Thai curry. It was expensive because the rice didn’t come with the curry so you had to order this separately. I can recommend the Sunday lunch but don’t think I would choose anything from the Thai menu again.

After lunch we decided to go shopping instead of finishing off the tiling. Phil needed a rest after being on his hands and knees all morning. Phil needed petrol so we went to Tesco at Kingston because he had a 5p off a litre voucher and then we went to the main store for supplies. We were near Bletchley so next we popped into IKEA to get new blinds for the CF. Unfortunately they didn’t have a blind wide enough for the lounge so we only got one for the bedroom and whilst we there we also picked up some mirror tiles. Phil was pining for a coffee and a donut but I managed to steer him straight to the lift.

Next up was a trip to Wickes to pick up a 300mm wall cabinet to go next to the corner unit in the kitchen. The ‘off the shelf’ kitchen from Wickes is not turning out to be straight forward and I think Phil is wishing we had gone for something else. Too late now to change our minds, half of the cabinets are already built up and fixed back to the wall.

After Wickes we went to Carpet Right to order a new carpet, underlay, grippers and bars for the lounge. We picked up a carpet which was an off cut and had been discounted; its crazy how the underlay and grippers turned out to be more expensive than the carpet itself. How does that work out? Anyway, it’s being fitted next Wednesday afternoon which means that all the tiling has to be finished and the kitchen and bathroom need to be fully installed. No pressure there then.

Last stop of yesterday was a visit to B&Q, our favourite DIY store to pick up a blind for the lounge and kitchen. Phil choose a black and white pattered blind for the kitchen which I’m not sure about but I was tired by this stage and couldn’t be arsed to argue. We found a wooden effect blind for the lounge but it wasn’t cheap. The plan was to finish the day at the health club with a nice Jacuzzi and steam but it was late and we were just too tired. Perhaps we might make it there today?

Today we are back at the CF. Phil has to finish off all the tiling on the back wall in the bathroom because there is a slim chance that Snake, the plumber, could turn up tomorrow to fit the new bathroom suite. We need to buy this today and have arranged to meet ‘Bald Man with Nice Van’ (aka Nigel) at 2.30pm outside B&Q. The plan is that he will put the new bathroom suite in his ‘nice van’ and then go to the NH to collect the IKEA micro kitchen and then drop off at Cranfield. That’s the plan anyway, whether it all comes together we shall just to wait and see.

A messy weekend

We are still in a right old mess in the CF flat but any day soon things will be turned around. I have painted all the rooms now, even got 3 coats on the newly plastered kitchen ceiling so I am feeling much happier. The glossing is even done in the main bedroom so once the new windows are in, the place will be almost liveable. Well I say liveable but we are still without a bathroom or kitchen It’s going to be a hectic week and we are going to be under pressure to lay the wall tiles in the bathroom in readiness for Snake, the plumber, to come in and fit the new bathroom, which incidentally we haven’t even brought yet.

The sun has shone for the last few days and Betty kept out of my way for most of Thursday and Friday, which, needless to say has helped me no end. Phil has been out of action for a couple of days which has slowed us down. We had planned to take the afternoon off on Friday and stay in a hotel in Oxford so Phil could go to his OU tutorial on the Saturday morning but Georgina had to be taken to Oxford on Friday for the open day at the university so that meant we had to cancel our plans. Instead, I went painting at CF flat all day and was absolutely exhausted when I got home. No change there then.

Phil had to pick up another student in Milton Keynes and then drove to Oxford for a second day in a row for his tutorial on Saturday morning. I got petrol, went to the tip and then made my way to Cranfield for another day of painting. Betty was around but on Saturday’s she does her washing and housework so she didn’t have much time to chat. Actually, I had to ask her to help me put the glass table top back on and lift the mirror back on the wall, so five minutes of work, and she was very helpful. I didn’t feel guilty though because I did take her a bottle of wine the other day and donated a bag of old clothes, shoes and belts for the youngest daughter to take into school so I’m not all bad! I did notice when I was sweeping up the tile dust, my last job before heading home, that she’d tended to the garden outside our front door; there was an old pot full of weeds by the step and I saw that she’d dug out the weeds and put in some kind of plastic animal. Sweet thought but obviously not to my taste and I need to loose it somehow without her noticing.

Harriet came round on Friday night to use our loo as hers was blocked. She has been complaining about the flush on her back-to-wall toilet for weeks now and I felt guilty that I hadn’t chased up the plumber to come and sort it. To be honest, I have chased him and left several messages but he just hasn’t got back to me. I spent an hour phoning around different plumbers from the classified ads in The Citizen on Saturday but struggled to get a plumber out because as soon as I mentioned the blocked bog, they didn’t want the job. One plumber suggested I shove a toilet brush with a hand towel down the loo so I went round to Harriet’s and tried this but it didn’t work, in fact it made the situation worse. It was disgusting, the more I shoved, the more waste came out of the pipe and back up into the loo. YUK!!! Made me gag I can tell you and I had to abort the operation nearly as soon as I’d started. Shane watched the procedure from outside the bathroom and it even made him gag. Even Coke, the dog, stayed well away.

I went back home and phoned another plumber and eventually persuaded one to come out to HH’s loo within the hour. Owen unblocked the loo and phoned me to say that we needed a new syphon. Apparently the flush system is so old that you can’t get new parts and really we should have replaced the flush system when we replaced the bathroom. The plumber who fitted the bathroom (mention no names, but you know who I mean) not only did he fail to tell us that the flush system was ancient but he also didn’t fit the syphon properly which consequently caused the flush to not work and subsequently block the loo. Owen (star) is ordering the part and will be out on Thursday morning to fit it. What is it with us and toilet leaks????

Phil got back from his tutorial a little before 2pm and as there was no food in the freezer we went to Peartree Bridge for a carvery. I went for the turkey which turned out a good choice because Phil said the beef was tough. I made the mistake of having a large glass of house white which made me feel really sleepy and dosey. I felt like calling it a day and going home but Phil insisted we went to Wickes to buy the kitchen. It was easy enough to pick from the shelf but with both of us suffering with bad backs, not so great loading the units into the car. Once we had loaded it all in we drove to the CF flat to offload the units. Whilst we were there Phil cut the few remaining floor tiles whilst I got another coat of emulsion on the kitchen ceiling. I was knackered by the end of the day and Saturday night was shower, jarmies, wine and X-factor.

When we’d had breakfast and answered emails we went straight over to the CF flat to carry on with the works. Phil got stuck into the grouting and I followed behind him doing the brushing and wiping down. Another grovelling around on hands and knees dirty job but very satisfying once it was done. Phil built up the base kitchen units and I got the ladder out and painted the fascia boards. We finished at midday, got changed and went to the Swan in Cranfield for lunch. It has had a change of management and a refurbishment since we were there last (about two years ago) so we were pleasantly surprised. We went for the Sunday roast lamb but there were plenty of other choices on the menu including a huge choice of Thai food. Our roast lamb was delicious, all freshly cooked and well presented. It’s not cheap as chips but I think you pay for what you get and we will definitely be dining there again.

After lunch we went to Tesco’s to get fuel and supplies from the main store then we went to Wickes to see if we could get the missing parts for the drawer base unit. After much waiting around and discussions with several of the staff, we ended up having to order the missing parts. Never mind, hopefully they should arrive sooner rather than later and preferably in the next couple of days. Next trip was a visit to B&Q to get the wall tiles. We pretty much knew what we wanted so it was just a case of loading up the trolley and lugging it all into the boot of Phil’s car, another back breaking job.

We went home for a shower and change of clothes and were just ready to greet Barry our new guttering and roof repair man. Barry has just done the guttering on the two OB flats and had come round for payment. Whilst he was here Phil asked him to quote to repair the leak in Shirley’s garage. You can see the sky and as we have stored some of Shirley’s stuff in there and are concerned that it will get damp. Barry said he would do it for fifty quid which we though was fair. Last night was again, jarmies, wine and early to bed, ready for the new week ahead.

The French Connexion

First I would like to direct your attention to a charitable event; Vanessa Ford, a good friend of ours has decided to go for it and try and raise some money for a local hospice (Willen) that we all have some experience of in this area, they are wonderful, and I have never heard anyone say anything bad about them. Vanessa will be doing the Andean Lares Tail in Peru and climbing to 14400 feet (Machu Picchu); or tying to. The highest I have ever climbed is slightly over 12000 feet and it’s hard to breath at that height. For me it felt like I wanted to yawn all the time’ it seemed hard to catch your breath; maybe that’s a way of getting more oxygen into your lungs. Anyway, have a look at the link on our site and sponsor her; even if it’s only a small amount. “Every little helps”. At least follow this link and read about the event, please! http://www.justgiving.com/Vanessa-Ford/

Another friend of ours, Steve Lawn emailed me a while ago and asked me to have a look at his brand new website which advertises his Gite in Brittany France. If you follow our blog you will know that Claire and I went to stay with Steve and Sue last year in their main house while they were renovating the old 17th century water mill into a Gite. If you haven’t been following this blog you can find it starting at our entry called “Tour De France” on 6th July 2008. Can’t seem to put a link here.

Steve and Sue sold up and went out to France a couple of years ago buying a house that needed renovating and also had lots of land and a very run down water mill that was built in the 17th century. As the water mill used water from a stream they also have lots of land in a thin long strip that follows this stream for probably about 1km. It has lots of fish in it as nobody seems to have the time or inclination to fish that part of the river / stream. When we stayed there the main house was finished to an incredible standard and they had started on the grounds and water mill. Sue had lifted tonnes of stones single handed into sensible places so that the gardens could be made nice while Steve did all the renovation on the old mill. Having said that, Sue also did the plastering which she became very accomplished at. She had even mastered the art of curved walls by the time we were there. Steve, an engineer, like me, used to design and working metal, seemed to have made the switch to wood like a duck to water. They had lots of oak from an old barn that they dismantled so he split and sawed it down to make the staircase by hand. This is real art; having said that he does like “boys toys”; Steve seems to have every available electric power tool available to man. The area is lovely, a great reflection of rural France and there are some unbelievable restaurants in the area. Luckily, Steve knows me and took us to several of them but Sue is a very accomplished chef; they owned Olney Brassier in Bedfordshire before they sold up and bought a guest house in Devon.

While we were there we were lucky enough to have the “Tour De France” go right past their house during our stay there. In fact, it went past twice, two days consecutively. This is a perfect place to get away with the whole family together; especially at Christmas when you don’t know which set of parents to go to on Christmas day. We don’t have that problem as we normally go away on our own over the Christmas holidays but I know most people do. This is a link to their website; take a look, especially at the photos. This was a mammoth renovation that has been very skilfully perfected. It makes ours look like Childs play. http://www.moulin-de-guermeur.com/

The actual water wheel itself had completely disintegrated but there were enough remains to know exactly the form it took and Steve is now in the process of making a new one, also from the local old oak that he has available, for free; he is almost as tight as me.

Happy Birthday Jimmy! Hope you are having a great trip in Egypt.

Snakes & Ladders

Progress is slow but steady and we are just about through, getting out all the bad stuff from the CF flat and are now at the stage of putting stuff back in. We had a really good day on Tuesday, greatly helped by the fact that Snake, the plumber recommended by Ian at Ampthill Glass turned up as promised. Okay, it took a reminder call from Phil first thing in the morning but nonetheless he arrived and got the entire bathroom suite and kitchen sink out in just under 2 hours. We have great faith in Snake and just hope he can work a miracle with the IKEA micro kitchen; we have some concerns because the existing pipes come out of the floor and not the wall but we think, if anyone can do it, then Snake can!

Steve the aerial man turned up also on Tuesday with his ladders and fitted a new aerial for 90 quid. Unfortunately his partner is the one that fixes the phone cables so he couldn’t sort all the telephone wiring for us. This is not a big problem; we’ll just have to get out our MK ex BT engineer. The wires are driving Phil crazy and if I don’t get someone out soon I know he is just going to cut them off himself, leaving us with no phone line. After Steve finished, we’d packed everything away, locked up and went to B&Q to get 9 boxes of floor tiles and some mid grey grout and adhesive.

We also had a productive day yesterday; Tommy the new plasterer turned up before 8am just as he said he would. Both Phil and I like tradesman that start early and we definitely will use Tommy again. I didn’t have such a great start to the day though; Phil realised that he’d forgotten all his tiling tools and phoned me to ask me to bring them to the flat. Unfortunately his tiling stuff was in the garage and I didn’t have a key as I’d given my key to the agent. I had to leave my porridge and drive to Cranfield to get Phil's garage key so I could get his tools. When I got to the flat Phil chucked the old toilet in the boot of my car and asked me to drop this off at the dump on my way back. I did as he asked but I hadn’t realised just how heavy it was and it nearly killed me getting it out of the boot but somehow I managed it.

Betty from next door remains to be a constant distraction and irritation to works in progress. She was chatting to me through the bedroom window yesterday and as I was half way round the room with the roller, I realised I’d picked up the silk paint tray and not the matt tray. Silly mistake which now means I shall have to go over the walls and half the ceiling again in the matt. I managed to get my wall mounted picture boards painted in a mixture of green, red, purple and mocca and very nice they look too. They needed 2 coats but hopefully should be dry enough to hang back on the walls today.

After Tommy left, Phil finished getting all the tiles of the walls in the bathroom and kitchen. He also got the disgusting shit brown and white old ceramic tiles up from the bathroom floors. It took several trips to the tip to dump off all the old tiles and a lot of sweeping up in readiness to lay the new tiles. Phil was going to start this yesterday but by the time we’d finished sweeping up it was nearly 1pm so we decided to put on street clothes and go and find somewhere to eat. We ended up in Wootton and had a delicious juicy fillet steak at The Rose & Crown pub at the very end of the village. It had a traditional English pub lunchtime menu but in the evening the pub turns into an Indian restaurant and takeaway. Most bizarre and if, and when, we ever finish the CF flat and stay the night there, we will definitely go back to The Rose & Crown and try out the Indian fare.

Must publish this blog now and get going, traffic is bad with the school run after 8.30am and it gets worse the nearer you get to 9am when the school opens. Today we are going to tile both the kitchen and bathroom floors. Not sure how we’re going to get out of the front door with out having to walk over the new tiles but we’ll figure something out when we get there. Betty’s husband Adrian has Thursday’s off and he and Betty go to Asda in MK for their weekly shop. They drop their little daughter off at school and then make their way into town so I reckon we should have peace and quiet until at least midday. Pure heaven, and if we get going now we should get all the tiles finished this morning, just in time for lunch.

Around the world in 111 Days

Finally booked our dream holiday; it took some sorting out as it is a little more complicated than our normal holiday. I must congratulate Marc from Travel Mood for his patience; he certainly earned his commission.

We set off on 20th November for Hong Kong where we spend our first three nights. We will book a hotel for these three nights ourselves and have a couple of options already. It’s quite expensive in Hong Kong so we don’t want to spend too much right at the start of our holiday so maybe we will end up in a hostel. Claire found a YWCA that she fancied and I’m quite happy to go along with her.

Then we have a week in Bali. This is one I am looking forward to as it seems rather cheap. We have taken the hotel that Geoff offered us as it seemed such a bargain. I was reading a travel book about it and they eat bee lava. I can’t see Claire sampling them but I guess they must have plenty of bees there for it to have become a national dish.

We then fly off to Melbourne to start our first house swap with Arlene and her son. They will be moving in ours a little before we move in theirs but they intend to spend most of their time with their relatives in Stoke on Trent which is only about 80 odd miles away. This should be quite easy for them as we are also swapping cars. I think they only emigrated 2 years ago and did a swap last year to come home. Arlene said that the couple they swapped with wanted to move out to the area as they loved it so much. Our friends Ian and Jane from Ampthill Glass will be going out to Sydney for 6 weeks over the Christmas holidays and beyond and we intend to meet up with them. We will be going to Sydney at some point in our six week stay in Berwick, Melbourne but thought they might like to come with us when we drive “The Great Ocean Road”. We could do this over a few days and make a mini break of it ending up at Adelaide for a night. Claire has arranged to go out for a meal with them next week to discuss it.

We then fly to Brisbane and will book a night or two in a hotel online but haven’t even looked in that area yet. We have 10 days in between our two house swaps so it gives us the perfect chance to do some independent travelling which we both enjoy so much. I have been getting travel DVD’s out from the Library to see where we wanted to go and stay which is partly the reason it has taken so much time to book. There is a bus, quite like the Greyhound, where you buy a ticket for your destination and can hop on and off along the way.

As we are taking our second swap in Townsville with Geoff and Denise who discovered this blog. Along the coast between Brisbane and Townsville is the Great Barrier Reef so lots to explore there and maybe I can make use of my PADI course that I got recently in Turkey. Geoff has recommended Airlie Beach which is pretty and has lots of island offshore where you can take day trips or stop over. Maybe we can do a bit of island hopping.

We then spend the next three weeks at Geoff and Denise’s house where we intend to chill out for a while before exploring north of them maybe to Cairns and Darwin. We didn’t like the looks of Darwin from the travel DVD’s as the majority seemed to be backpackers with dreadlocks. They have their own pool so it will give Claire a chance to catch up with some sunbathing while I catch up with some reading in the shade. Everyone has been warning us about the heat over the summer period but I always try and stay in the shade anyway. We always catch the sun while walking around, we rarely sunbathe these days as we are a little too old for that.

Then comes the trickiest part of our trip, we need to make our way back to Brisbane to catch our flight to Los Angeles. Somehow it didn’t quite work out as part of our world flight so we need to book this flight independently. Maybe will have enjoyed the bus trip so much that we leave a bit earlier and do it all again the other way? I tried so hard to slot a short stay in Fiji at this point but finally decided to cut it out because of the added cost; maybe next time. It wasn't just the price that the flight added it seems a very expensive place to stay, especially as we would not be there to relax but to tour around.

Our last stop is Los Angeles, the city of Angels (and Demons). We have just less than three weeks here before returning home on 10th March 2010 just in time for the beginning of the Grand Prix. We will be having a quick trip around Hollywood and Beverly Hills. I would like to visit San Francisco and Yosemite National Park as I have never done them before. Claire has never been to the West coast so we will be trying to see as much as we can. In fact the last time I was there, except for two nights, was in 1980. So I doubt I will recognise anything anyway.

We will spend at least three nights in Las Vegas so Claire can practice her gambling techniques. Last time I was there, I won a grand total of £21 over two nights. It doesn’t sound much but it’s better than loosing and you get all your drinks free while playing so effectively they paid me £21 to get drunk two nights. Unfortunately, this was short lived as I had my money stolen on the way home by pickpockets and they also stole my traveller’s cheques which meant that we had to spend the next 4 hours in Caesars Palace getting them replaced as that was the American Express office at the time.

We will definitely be having a trip over the Grand Canyon or maybe even walk down and up again if we are up to it. Last time I took the helicopter ride while the others walked down and they were knackered when they finally got back and we were only 25 at the time. It’s a nine mile trek down the winding trail that also descends 1 mile. Not so bad going down it’s the return that’s the killer. I wonder what else we will be seeing?

W-Y-S-I-W-Y-G

Progress has been slow at the Cranfield flat which is hardly surprising seeing as we only got the keys back on Thursday. But still, its frustrating because had we of known that the tenant was leaving for definite at the pre-arranged date we could have got all the tradesmen lined up and ready to go from day one. We haven’t done to bad though; Phil has got out all of the kitchen, bar the kitchen sink unit and we’ve tipped all the old units. The lounge is cleared and is ready to paint and hopefully the plumber will arrive tomorrow and disconnect the sink and rip out the avocado bathroom suite. Once this is done we can get started on tiling the floors.

Betty from next door is already driving me bonkers after only 3 days. Ian the glazier and old friend came to measure up for the windows and with Betty and the youngest child loitering in the kitchen and her husband Adrian ear-wigging and smoking a roll up whilst leaning from his courtyard through our lounge window, it was difficult to talk to Ian. We haven’t seen Ian for ages and wanted to ask about his and Jane’s travel plans for Australia this winter. Never mind, I must phone Jane and arrange a date for dinner and then at least we can talk in private.

It was kind of Betty to take the bedding from the line that I’d washed and forgotten about. She’d taken it off the line and folded it up neatly and guarded it in her flat overnight. I suppose it was also kind of her to present me with two fairy cakes that she’d home baked and pushed on a paper plate through the lounge window first thing on Saturday morning. Phil was grateful that he had something to wash his coffee down with but pay back for the cake was 20 minutes of mindless banter with B through the lounge window. I can see that I am going to draw upon all my reserve supplies of patience if I am to get through these next few weeks! Least of all, because in a few days, we shall be without a toilet or any access to water so I must hang in there! Oh I’m know I’m heartless and she is harmless enough, but honestly you don’t know what she’s like.

We finished around lunchtime at the flat on Saturday and after a trip to the tip we went to David Lloyd to get cleaned up. Lunch was a selection of pre-packed sandwiches from Lidl, which in case you don’t already know, are tasty and very cheap. After the health club we went to B&Q to price up some kitchens with the plans that Phil had drawn up. We’d been through the same process for Claudia & Johnny last week so we already had an idea of what we wanted. Ages ago, we brought a micro kitchen which was in bargain bucket corner at IKEA and we have been waiting for a couple of years to fit this somewhere. Basically, it’s one unit with an integrated fridge, sink, tap and 2 electric ring plates.

We still need however, to buy other units and wall cabinets to fill up the gaps. The Cranfield kitchen will be a bit of ‘mix n’ match’ kitchen but fingers crossed it will all work out. We ended up in Wickes and found the ‘Houston’ off the shelf kitchen units, which we think will match up well with the IKEA unit. Phil priced up the units we need which come in just under 300 quid so we will order this later in the week. Phil wanted to go and order the carpet for the lounge but I persuaded him that it was far too early. I like to order the carpet when I know we’re on the home run but at Cranfield, I don’t feel we’ve even got off the ground yet.

It hasn’t all been all work and no play; on Saturday evening Harriet and Shane came round for a take-away. Phil had recorded the qualifying of the Grand Prix which Shane also follows, so the boys watched the laps while HH and I chatted and decided what to order from the Chinese. Harriet went back to pick up the dog when I remarked I was surprised she didn’t bring him with. The Chinese takeaway arrived and we all stuffed our faces then sat down to watch the X-factor. I think the kids enjoyed the evening, Coke, the dog certainly did and we sent them all away with a doggy bag full of leftovers, some DVD’s and a couple of beers for the road.

Yesterday Phil picked up Georgina and they went back to Melton to see his mum and dad. I went to Tesco for supplies for the week, changed the bed, hung out the washing, nipped to the city centre, made a Thai Green curry, picked up the step ladders from Harriet’s flat and went to the gym for a quick workout and a swim. Late evening was newspapers, some telly and of course a bottle (or 2) of wine.

I can’t believe I didn’t take any photographs of anything over the last few days so I have had to improvise with old photo’s just to give this posting some visual. Without a doubt, it’s going to be a busy week and we’re going need to be organised. Plumber should be in today (latest tomorrow) and Terry is coming out on Tuesday morning to quote us for a digital aerial and a price to sort out the telephone cables.

I must tell you about Terry; I picked him out of the classified ads from MK News and phoned yesterday to arrange for him to come out to us at Cranfield for a quote. I told him the address, gave him a contact number and arranged a date and a time for him to come out. Just as I was about to put the phone down he asked if I ever lived in Newport Pagnell? I said yes, why? He said that he knew a ‘Phil and Claire’ who lived in NP that had a load of houses. Funny he couldn’t remember how he knew us so I will be interested in meeting him face-to-face tomorrow, to see if we know him and from where.

A blast from the past maybe?? Who knows, either way, the whole conversation spooked me a little. Just like our new Australian house swap friend finding the naked bloggers on the Internet spooked Phil. I emailed my friend Jill this and she emailed back to say she didn’t know why Phil was freaked about the Australian finding our blog site. She said, and I quote from her last email “How funny and hey what would he find out about you other than you have several houses, are really nomads, drink a lot, eat nice food and spend the occasional hour in the gym!!!!!

And I guess she is right; what you see with me and Phil, is what you get, WYSIWYG. It’s weird though, this whole world wide web business. I don’t know why, me and Phil assume we’re invisible? Sometimes I wish I was.